Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 5, 2014

ROSETTA SETS SIGHTS ON DESTINATION COMET 
THE WORLD AROUND US Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 5, 2014 
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ROSETTA SETS SIGHTS ON DESTINATION COMET 
THE WORLD AROUND US Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 5, 2014 
B2 
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has 
caught a first glimpse of its destination comet, after waking 
up from deep-space hibernation on 20 January.

 Two ‘first light’ images were taken on 20 and 21 March by 
the OSIRIS wide-angle camera and narrow-angle camera, 
as part of six weeks of activities dedicated to preparing the 
spacecraft’s science instruments for close-up study of comet 
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

 OSIRIS, the Optical, Spectroscopic and Infrared 
Remote Imaging System aboard the spacecraft, developed 
under the leadership of the Max-Planck-Institut für 
Sonnensystemforschung in Göttingen, Germany, has two 
cameras for imaging the comet. One covers a wide angle, 
while the narrow-angle camera covers a smaller field at 
higher resolution.

 OSIRIS is one of a suite of 11 science instruments on 
the Rosetta orbiter that together will provide details on the 
comet’s surface geology, its gravity, mass, shape and internal 
structure, its gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere and its plasma 
environment.

 Rosetta has been traveling through the solar system for 
10 years, and will finally arrive at the comet in August this 
year. It first imaged the comet in a long exposure of over 13 
hours from a distance of 163 million kilometers, three years 
ago, before entering deep-space hibernation. 

Rosetta is currently around 5 million kilometers from the 
comet, and at this distance it is still too far away to resolve—
its light is seen in less than a pixel and required a series of 
60- to 300-second exposures taken with the wide-angle and 
narrow-angle camera. The data then travelled 37 minutes 
through space to reach Earth, with the download taking 
about an hour per image.

 “Finally seeing our target after a 10-year journey through 
space is an incredible feeling,” says OSIRIS Principal 
Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute 
for Solar System Research in Germany. “These first images 
taken from such a huge distance show us that OSIRIS is 
ready for the upcoming adventure.”

 “This is a great start to our instrument commissioning period, and we are looking forward to having all 11 instruments plus lander Philae back online and ready for arriving at the comet in just a few months’ 
time,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist.

 OSIRIS and the spacecraft’s dedicated navigation cameras will regularly acquire images over the coming weeks to help refine Rosetta’s trajectory in order to bring it steadily in line with the comet ahead of 
the rendezvous.

 Currently, Rosetta is on a trajectory that would, if unchanged, take it past the comet at a distance of approximately 50,000 km and at a relative speed of 800 m/s. A critical series of maneuvers beginning in 
May will gradually reduce Rosetta’s velocity relative to the comet to just 1 m/s and bring it to within 100 km by the first week of August.

 Between May and August the 4-km-wide comet will gradually ‘grow’ in Rosetta’s field of view from appearing to have a diameter of less than one camera pixel to well over 2,000 pixels—equivalent to a 
resolution of around 2 m per pixel—allowing the first surface features to be resolved.

 These early observations will allow the rotation rate and the shape of the nucleus to be better understood, crucial for planning maneuvers around the comet. An initial assessment of the comet’s activity will 
also be possible.

 With OSIRIS re-activated in the first week of instrument commissioning, Rosetta’s 10 other science experiments, along with lander Philae, will provide the focus for the next months’ activities.
Images: 

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com. 

ROSETTA’S FIRST SIGHTING OF ITS TARGET IN 2014 – NARROW ANGLE VIEW Photo courtesy ESA 


BILLS WOULD ADDRESS CALIFORNIA’S DROUGHT 

By: Cynthia Kurtz, CEO - San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership 

Recently I joined the Los Angeles Area Chamber 
of Commerce on a trip to Washington, D.C. to 
talk to legislators about managing California’s 
drought. We received a good reception. Water 
is a bi-partisan issue. Inside the “Washington 
bubble” we found that support for programs that 
provide water crosses party lines. However, what 
those programs should contain can take very 
different paths. Elected officials from California 
and across the nation know about the California 
drought. 

A drought in California isn’t just a California 
problem. The $44.7 billion agricultural sector 
in California helps feed the nation. Southern 
California is the eighth largest economy in 
the world.If our economy suffers, the country 
suffers. This is the worst drought since at least 
1976 --1977. While Southern California’s long 
term investments in storage and conservation 
are providing the supplies that are needed here, 
for now, other parts of the state which haven’t 
made these investments are suffering. Safe 
drinking water is in danger of running out in as 
many as 10 California communities.Long term 
investments are needed to address California’s 
water supply and use challenges. But as a wise 
philosopher once said, “When the alligator is 
nipping at your butt it is hard to remember that 
your goal was to drain the swamp.” So most of 
the conversations for now are about what to 
do now.There are several bills proposed to help 
manage the drought. 

The ones getting the most attention are House 
Resolution 3964 introduced by Congressman 
Valadao (R) from the Sacramento - San Joaquin 
Valley, Senate Resolution 2016 introduced by 

Senator Feinstein (D) and a similar bill, House 
Resolution 4039, introduced by Congressman 
Costa (D) from Mercer, Madera and Fresno 
Counties.HR 3964 focuses on the needs of the 
farmers who have had to fallow land for lack of 
irrigation water. It proposes to direct more water 
to farming by reducing regulatory requirements. 

There could also be an increase in the water 
available for the State Water Project that brings 
water to outhern California. Republicans say 
HR 3964 would help both farmers and urban 
interests.Democrats say it is in direct conflict 
with California’s co-equal goals of meeting both 
Delta and urban water needs, pits interests group 
against each other, and damages the efforts of 
divergent groups to agree on long-term water 
solutions for the state. SR 2016 and HR 4039 
direct federal agencies to use operational changes 
to maximize the flow of water especially to the 
communities hardest hit in the central valley, 
provides $300 million in federal funding for a 
variety of water programs that both conserve 
water and increase supply,and expedites 
federal regulatory control without changing or 
exempting any environmental requirements. 

Democrats say it will provide more water by 
opening cross channels in the Delta when fish 
aren’t migrating, allowing water to reach the 
communities who need it most, and without 
damaging the environment. Republicans say 
is it too little too late. Conservation projects to 
increase supply take too long and won’t provide 
water soon enough. It is an important debate. 
There are no easy answers. The wrong answer is 
to do nothing. 

“If It’s Glass We Fix It” 

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